'I was engaged to Alec Baldwin': 'Cliffhanger' alum Janine Turner gets candid about her 'first love'

2023-05-14 01:23

'We had the dress, the invitations, the church, everything. And then we called it off. Mutually called it off', said Janine Turner

Janine Turner opened up about her former engagement to Alec Baldwin who she said was her "first love". In a recent interview, the 'Cliffhanger' star got candid about her relationship with the actor who is now married to Hilaria Baldwin. "I was engaged to Alec Baldwin," she revealed.

Turner was only 20 when she met Baldwin at an audition. "He stared at me across the crowded room … He was my first love. We were engaged and then it wasn’t moving in the right direction, so we decided to part," she recalled during her interview with Page Six.

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Turner and Baldwin are 'still friends'

Talking to the media outlet, Turner said that she is "still friends" with the 'It's Complicated' star. In a 2014 episode of 'Oprah: Where Are They Now?', the 'Northern Exposure' alum talked about the preparation for the wedding with Baldwin and shared that all the arrangements were underway when they finally decided to call it quits. "We had the dress, the invitations, the church, everything. And then we called it off. Mutually called it off," she said.

Turner's split with Baldwin was 'devastating' for her

The split after all the preparations left the actress devastated at the time. "I loved Alec very much, so it was devastating. [But] we both just knew that it was wrong … It wasn’t healthy. And I knew I didn’t want to live that way in my life," she said.

Turner who began her acting career in 1980 through her role in "Dallas" said that during her engagement to the now 65-year-old actor, she grew frustrated by the acting roles she was offered "I was watching Alec get all of these great roles and I was just told to show up in a bikini and do a 360 or be kidnapped," Turner said.

"And I, I felt that was beneath my dignity. And if that’s what it was going to be, I didn’t want to continue acting," she added. She then decided to move back to New York and took up method acting classes with a coach. She then decided to take on roles that were dignified. Turner then got "the character was the one I’d always been waiting for" on 'Northern Exposure'."

From 1990 to 1995, Turner acted in the comedy/drama series in the role of Maggie O'Connell, a spunky pilot. In 1993, she also starred in 'Cliffhanger', an action thriller where she played the love interest of Sylvester Stallone. However, in 1997, she became a single mother to her daughter Juliette and decided to take a break from her acting career.